


Vortex of Change

by RavenShira



Series: Causing Chaos with Clashing Clans - Warring State Drama [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Haruno Sakura, De-Aged Sakura Haruno, Don't copy to another site, Fix-It, Gen, Hatake - Freeform, POV Haruno Sakura, Senju - Freeform, Time Travel, Uchiha, Warring States Period (Naruto)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-10-17 08:53:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,801
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17557241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenShira/pseuds/RavenShira
Summary: The fight with Kaguya goes slightly different, when Kaguya as a last resort tries to bend reality to revert time itself.Sakura didn't mean to get mixed up with this. Really. Honest. If she had known it would mean growing up all over again, in a different time, she would not have jumped in between the godess and her teammates.Oh, who was she kidding. Of course she would have still done that but she was really not looking forward to going through puperty a second time.Or: How Sakura accidentally time-travels into the warring state era, de-ages and makes friends with the most riddiculous shinobi she had ever met. And she was once on a team with Naruto.





	1. Down the rabbit-hole

**Author's Note:**

  * For [auberghyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/auberghyn/gifts).



> _For Itama and Kawarama, who died before their time._

Her feet carried her on their own accord. Already she could see the outcome, at least more or less. Her mind was three steps ahead analyzing the different angles and trying to parse though what could be happening next. Naruto's plan was, as always, unpredictable but she had grown used to that over the years. He was counting on them to cover for him, to close the gaps that his plan entailed. Kakashi, who was probably at least ten steps ahead in his planning, stopped the spike that was ready to impale Naruto as he and Sasuke reached out towards Kaguya.

 

_Don't forget about me!!_

 

The godess twisted, clearly out of options and Sakura got ready-

 

There.

 

“ _ **SHANNARO!**_ ” Her triumphant scream startled Kaguya as she tried to rise higher only to be stopped by Sakura's fist to her face. Their eyes connected and Sakura's vicious smile at her success, the satisfaction of landing that hit started to wane as she saw the rage and desperation on the godess's face. Maybe she had miscalculated.

 

A second passed, before chrakra exploded around them, all aimed at Sakura who had prevented Kaguya's escape. The energy rippled around the combat-medic, crackling like electricity, raw and unformed as it pressed into her, making her falter and fall gracelessly as she curled into a ball, hoping that she could protect her vitals while at the same time follwing instincts to make herself a smaller target to escape the agony.  
  
She screamed.

 

It was too much.

 

The chakra around her was unnatural, snapping, clawing, before it seemed to rubberband into creating a bubble around her. Sakura opened her eyes, nearly blinded and gasped when she saw the rip in the space-time fabric, a portal to who knew where that was slowly sucking her in.

 

“ _Oh_ _ **shit.**_ ”

 

The pain kept rising to near unbearable levels, but survival instincts made her struggle one last time, releasing her own chakra in hopes of buffering her from whatever this attack was supposed to do, trying to get out of reach but the mealstrom was too strong and her friends too far to help.

 

Her last view was of Naruto and Sasuke as their hands finally reached Kaguya, ready to seal. Sakura forced a smile, even through the pain that was steadily getting worse and let out a choked sob as the portal closed around around her to Naruto's scream of her name.

 

The sensation that followed was like falling, while every bone was breaking in her body, the skin pealed of and the muscles erroding agonizingly slow like a stone being whittled down by natures whims. Now, with no-one there to witness, Sakura opened her mouth and screamed, wailed and cried. She wasn't a stranger to pain, but this? This topped the cake, slowly eating at her thoghts and memories until everything she knew was pain.

 

She screamed until there was no air left and she was left to choke on her own voice.

 

She didn't know how long it took. Long enough that she panicked and thought it would last for eternity.

 

When it finally stopped, Sakura was curled on the ground, whimpering and sucking in airful breaths into her burning lungs. Little crying sounds left her, her limbs unresponsitive to her will, her sight blurry and distorted. From tears or exhaustion, she couldn't tell.

 

Her shivering body felt weak. Her clothing ill-fitting and cold was making her shiver uncontrollably. Her charka felt... feeble. Out of reach and

 

She couldn't tell where she was. Was it the Ice World? How long would it take for the others to find her?  
  
Time crawled past her, until even her crying stopped, tears near frozen on her cheeks and slowly loosing conscience, for all that she tried to keep her eyes open.

 

She felt like she was dying. If not from the injuries and chakra-exhaustion, then from the cold.

 

Another little whimper escaped her, and her ears picked up a rustle of leaves. Too weak to even roll over and look at whoever was approaching, she froze when something wet, warm and rough trailed over her head like liquid fire on her chilled skin. Whoever it was nudged at her and Sakura was left to stare in frozen horror at the humongous wolf that was curiously looking down at her, carefully pawing at her clothes.

 

“What do we have here?” a male voice asked from further away, and the wolf turned it's head and let out a bark.

 

“Oh.” the voice sounded close and then repeated in a softer voice.

 

“ _Oh._ ”

 

Giant warm hands reached out for her, ignoring her whimpers and pained cries as her body was moved, gently removing the clothing on her body.

 

“Oh dear... you poor little thing...” warmth enfulged her as the man settled her into his arms, opening his coat and drawing it around her. Fur and light hair tickled her as Sakura steadily lost the fight against the darkness.

 

 _Oh_.

 

It was in that moment as her eyelids slowly dropped close and warmth cocooned her that she realized what was wrong.

 

 

 

_They are not humongous._

 

 

 

 

 

_It's me who is small..._

 


	2. The struggles of being de-aged into infancy

“What is that.” A deep, husky female voice drew Sakura out of her sleepy state, still cocooned in darkness and warmth. A mewling sound left her, weak and quiet as she awoke, startling her further into consciousness and her new reality.

 

She was a... baby. Right. Sakura scowled as light appeared in her safety-bubble, wincing as it pierced her eyes and shivering as a gust of slightly colder air hit her exposed skin. Another, unintentional whimper left her, making Sakura conscious of how little control she had over her voice. She blinked her eyes until the surroundings of a modest room became clearer. But she couldn't see the female that has just spoken from the angle she was being held.

 

“I found her out in the snow.” a deep male muttered close behind her. Probably the person holding her up, carefully setting her down on the nest of blankets, worn pillows and furs, swaddling her in softness.

 

“I could hardly leave her to freeze to death.” It was a man. Lanky and thin, with corded muscles that spoke from years of training as he stripped out of the winter coat before he returned back to her side. He stroked her cheek with one of his fingers, carefully and gently as if he was afraid of breaking her if he added too much pressure and Sakura flailed her arms instinctively, if very uncoordinated. No control over her actions either then. Great.

 

Life would suck until she could regain her mobility and make her tongue work in a language instead of the babbling that was escaping her now. It would suck a lot, that much was clear.

 

“That's... a larval-stage human.” The female voice sounded slightly disgruntled, if not openly hostile. “It's going to scream day in day out, isn't it.”

 

“She's not an 'it', Kokuen.” the male voiced tiredly, amused and resigned in equal measure. Sakura squinted up to him, noting the silver, distinguishing hair and sun-tanned skin. He looked... wild. His bushy hair was roughly tied back in his nape, barely held in check by the thin strip of cloth, with wild bangs escaping and framing his face. He wasn't that old, but there were tired lines marking his face, making him seem older than he probably was. A stressful life, or tragedy, or both for all that Sakura knew.

 

“Don't you ' _Kokuen_ ' me.” The female voice muttered in a deep rumble. There was a scratching noise, as the voice moved closer. “You know I'm right. And you have no clue how to care for that thing without-” She paused, clearly having said something she regretted before continuing on a different path. “Do you even know its age? What does it eat?”

 

“...” The male looked at her, looking discomforted as he studied Sakura in between all the fur.

 

“M-maybe... like a year?” he sounded oddly hopeful, yet entirely out of his depth. And for all that Sakura was happy she was out of the snow and hadn't frozen to death in the middle of nowhere... she was suddenly very, very worried about her immediate future.

 

“ _Masanobu._ ”

 

The female sighed in exasperation, finally stepping into Sakura's view and towering over her. Shaggy black fur framed piercing yellow eyes as the wolf stared down at her frozen form, nose carefully sniffing at her.

 

“This has to be your worst idea of date.” Kokuen rumbled, sitting down to glare balefully at Sakura.

“I could eat it to get rid of it. Problem solved.”

 

“You can't eat a baby!”

 

Kokuen huffed, something that suspiciously sounded like 'watch me' to Sakura who was whimpering and wiggling and entirely helpless in front of the wolf that just declared she wanted to eat her. There was a part of Sakura that knew, or rather hoped that the man, Masanobu, would keep the wolf from following through, but the helplessness she found herself in wasn't exactly something Sakura enjoyed.

 

But she also wasn't sure what to do, since her body simply didn't work the way she wanted it to. Which clearly showed when her pudgy little fingers grabbed onto warm fur, holding tight and tugging it closer without her conscious consent. Internally she was horrified, already counting the seconds it would take until the wolf bit her arm off with a single bite. And yet, at the same time her eyes struggled to stay open. Kokuen stilled, her piercing gaze returning to Sakura instantly.

 

“What is it doing.” Kokuen sounded tense, posture stiff as Sakura's eyes drifted close, holding tight onto the black tail she had captured. Masanobu chuckled nervously, trying to pry her fingers off and Sakura blinked to glare ineffectively up at him.

 

“Uhhh... maybe... maybe she likes you?” Masanobu tried to save the situation and Sakura decided that everything was lost anyways now as she snuggled up to the tip of the tail, fluffy and soft fur tickling her as she let out a happy warble, already beginning to drift off.

 

“... Fine.” Kokuen sniffed. “I guess it can stay. For now.”

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

Food was actually more of an issue than Sakura had originally thought it would be. It became apparent when Masanobu tried to get her to eat meat. She didn't even have teeth yet, but apparently he didn't know what else to do.

 

“Just try it?” Masanobu tried to entice her, half begging and clearly about to break down in tears himself while Kokuen sat at his side, looking longsuffering and just about ready to be done with this whole situation.

 

Sakura whined. She knew she was too young to eat it but Masanobu tried it anyways until she broke out in tears and flailed her little arms in protest.

 

“Oh, no, no, no. Don't cry. Kokuen? Why is she crying? How do I make her stop crying?”

 

“How should I know.” Kokuen replied unhelpfully, but she snagged the meat out of Masanobu's limp grip and chewed on it thoughtfully. Once she finished her snack and licked her chops she stared at Sakura thoughtfully.

 

“You know...” she said, watching as Sakura hiccuped helplessly “I think she's too young for meat. Silly thing probably still needs milk.”

 

There was a short silence, then Masanobu's breath hitched.

 

“Where am I supposed to get _milk_ in the middle of winter?!”

 

At his words Sakura started to cry again. She couldn't help it. She was slowly going to starve to death after all.

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

Kokuen sat stiffly in the room, back almost ramrod straight and teeth bared, a low, constant rumbling growl escaping her as she watched the very nervous goat in the other corner of the room. The prey animal was wild eyed, almost ready to faint from her presence alone.

 

Masanobu was standing protectively in front of the goat.

 

“We need her.” he tried to appeal to Kokuen. “Only for some time. You can't eat her yet.”

 

“She looks fat. I'm sure she would feed my pack for a week.” Kokuen sneered, trying to edge a little to the side, her eyes glued to the animal hiding and shaking behind Masanobu.

 

“She produces milk. She can feed the little one until we can get her used to meat.”

 

“You let a farm animal into our territory and now expect it to stay alive...?” Kokuen's fur bristled, but she had stopped trying to get around Masanobu. She was eyeing the goat hungrily, and with more than a little disgust.

 

“You can't keep dragging the rabble in and forbid me to eat it.”

 

“Babies are no food. You don't want to eat babies.” Masanobu tried to patiently explain once more. “We want to save the baby. The baby needs milk. Goat makes milk so goat stays alive. And as you put it, it wouldn't be save outside the hut with your pack salivating over it so it will stay inside.”

 

Kokuen barred her teeth, but unhappily acquisitioned.

 

“Fine. But once the little human eats meat, my pack gets that one over there to feast on.”

 

“Deal.” Masanobu quickly agreed, relief clear in his expression. Kokuen watched his rather fumbling and desperate tries to milk the goat and sneered.

 

“I can't believe I'm sharing space with food now.”

 

“Oh, shush.”

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

“We need a name for her.” Masanobu mused, studying Sakura intently. Kokuen put her paws on the table to take another look at Sakura lying in a nest of blankets on top of it, too.

 

“Worm?” Kokuen suggested mockingly “I mean, it's soft. It's squishy. It's helpless. It would fit.”

 

“No.” Masanobu pulled at one of Kokuen's ears teasingly “Be serious. Something that fits her.”

 

“Pinky.”

 

“No!” Masanobu couldn't help himself but laugh while he tried to shove Kokuen off the table. He hummed and finally said: “Sakiko.”

 

“Sakiko?” Kokuen asked, sniffing at Sakura “How does that fit her?”  
  
“It's... it's from Sayuri... and Sachiko.” Masanobu replied in a thick voice. “Because I want her to be as courageous as my wife. But have the life that S-Sachiko was... denied.”

 

“... Blossom Child?” Kokuen huffed out a breath and licked a stripe over Sakura's face.

 

“Guess it fits. She's as fragile as one after all.”

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

Being a baby was in one word: Boring.

 

She slept a lot, had a hard time following conversations and her attempts at speech or moving were pitiful. Kokuen eyed her from across the room, disdain and curiosity warring in her features that expressed just as much as Sakura had learned to read on Pakkun over the years.

 

She had tried to be quiet, but had quickly noticed why babies cried and fussed to get attention. It was the only way to survive. If she didn't cry, Masanobu would forget to feed her.

 

The embarrassing time she had needed a change had pretty much broken her spirit in trying to remain self sufficient. In the end she had not even been able to stop the crying fit as Masanobu quickly changed her into another cloth. Since then Kokuen always seemed to make sure he noticed. If it was because Sakura's wails had annoyed the she-wolf too much or simply because she couldn't stand the smell... Sakura wasn't sure, but she was grateful either way. Actually, a lot of her care was taken over by Kokuen, who huffed in annoyance and grumbled but was still very careful with her. Sakura couldn't help but like her no-nonsense attitude.

 

What she didn't like was when Kokuen started bullying her.

  
“Common little worm.” Kokuen batted at her with a paw, making Sakura try and rob away from her.

 

“Move it. Even my pups found their legs quicker than you.” the paw shoved at her again and Sakura whined. She tried, she really did but human babies were not made to walk as quickly as Kokuen apparently would like her to. Her glares were ineffective against the wolf.

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

“Ma! Ma, ma, ma, ma!” Sakura wiggled in happiness. She had finally managed to make the first syllable of Masanobu's name!  
  
Kokuen stared at her for a moment before she barked out a laugh.

 

“Hey. She's calling you.” The wolf called to Masanobu who just entered the cabin.

 

“She is?” Masanobu sounded bewildered, stepping closer and scooping Sakura up. In her excitement, Sakura couldn't help herself but flail her arms, eyes sparkling in happiness.

 

“Ma!”

 

“Congratulations.” Kokuen drily replied, chuffing laughter barely repressed.

 

“You are now a fully fledged mother.”

 

It was hard to say who looked more shocked into silence. Sakura or Masanobu. Masanobu's face seemed to twitch between bewilderment, dismay and utter happiness, before sighing and pulling Sakura fully into his arms.

 

“I'll be whatever the little one needs.” He decided and Sakura stilled in his arms, feeling the inexplicable urge to cry as warmth settled in her chest at his fond, loving tone.

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

“Ma!”  
  
“Papa.”

 

“Ma!!”

 

“No, no. Pa! Pa-pa!” Masanobu's tries were sounding more resigned the more often he repeated it, but he was trying. Sakura had to give him that.

 

“Ba!” she finally babbled with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, looking straight into Masanobu's soft grey eyes that widened in excitement.

 

“That's it. Well, almost but closer than before. Say that again!”

 

“Ma!” Sakura giggled as Masanobu let out a disappointed groan, but her heart was light at the small smile that hid in the corners of his mouth. She had to keep herself entertained _somehow_ , after all.

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

Not everything was okay though. At night Sakura had vivid dreams of the war. Night terrors, as Masanobu muttered once to Kokuen while gently rocking her in his arms as she cried her heart out. His voice was starting to sound so familiar to her now, a steady, constant new lifeline in the weird reality she found herself in. She probably would have gone insane without him talking at her, even though she couldn't really answer yet. She tried, but her tongue felt weird. Heavy and strange, as if it didn't quite belong to her body and she still had to get used to it. Muscle memory, her mind supplied wryly, would have to build up all over again. Yey.

 

She often wondered what happened to her team. Did they search for her? Would they even recognize her, small as she was now? Whole days would pass with her stewing over the issue, Masanobu shushing her gently as she whimpered and cried, unable to control her emotions that were filling her fragil body. She didn't scream, but even just seeing how worried Masanobu became sue to her crying made her feel an extra dose of guilt that would have her start crying all over again.

 

The chances of her team finding her just seemed low, with her being reduced to a baby in the middle of nowhere and them searching for a fully grown woman. It was disheartening, and her current state made it next to impossible to find out more about the outside world. She didn't know what happened to the war, to the village or to her friends. Masanobu seemed to try and avoid civilisation and from what Sakura had seen in the weeks (or had it been months?) of his care. The hut that they were living in was the only one around in a dense forest.

 

Masanobu wasn't there all the time though. He disappeared every now and then. To hunt. To trade. Sakura wasn't quite sure what he was doing but he usually reappeared with new resources or fire-wood.

 

And while Sakura resented her new helpless state, she was slowly... getting used to it. She tried very hard to get used to her small body again, to finally gain control over her limbs and tongue. Sometimes she was half convinced it worked, while at others she despaired at the slow progress. Assessing her own state of being made her realize just how small she was, but if she had to guess she would say that she was about half a year old.

 

Her current rage of motion was mostly rolling herself over. The first time it had happened he had almost rolled off the table and Masanobu had refused to set her down for the rest of the day, much to Kokuen's amusement. Her hand coordination was slowly getting better. Mostly trained by snatching at Masanobu's hair – another point of amusement for his wolf companion – or grabbing for Kokuen's tail – much to Masanobu's entertainment. She still missed half the time, but she was getting _better_.

 

If she didn't know better, she would say that Kokuen left her tail in reach on purpose. But that couldn't be right, right? Not with the way Kokuen growled at her every time Sakura managed to capture it, causing her little body to freeze and her grip to loosen enough for Kokuen to swipe it away.

 

She didn't want to get eaten, after all.

 

~•❀•~V~•° ❀ °•~ ֎ ~•° ❀ °•~C~•❀•~

 

Sakura awoke with a gasping cry, tears already flowing over as she curled up into a ball, hiccuping helplessly in distress. She could still feel the blood on her hand as she pumped Naruto's heart manually, refusing to give up on him even as terror choursed though her body. So close to losing him. Blood as Neiji died, blood like rivers as shinobi of all villages took their last stand. So many screams, so many died. She had been so helpless. Some had died quick, others torturously slow with her too far away, yet close enough to hear their screams and the desperate cries.

 

And she didn't even know how it had ended. Had they managed to seal Kaguya? Or was this, here, maybe the dreamworld that would devour them alive as they slept on, without even being aware of it? Wouldn't she feel the chakra leaving her? Was that why her body was so small-

 

Something warm brushed against her and Sakura spluttered, her cried aprubtly stopping as fur invaded her mouth.

 

She wasn't quite sure if Kokuen was subtly trying to suffocate her in her sleep with her tail, but she was warm and she was present and Sakura's fingers automatically curled into her thick, soft fur. A quiet, soothing rumble send gentle vibrations through her whole body as the she-wolf curled around her, helping her ease the last of her anxiety as she softly hiccuped. Her eyes grew heavier by the moment, and despite not believing herself able to fall back to sleep, the world started to fade away with. Warmth cocooned her, a presence lingering at the periphery of her senses and a gentle growl followed her into her dreams, protective. Like a warning to her enemies to step back. Like a reminder that she was safe.

 

There were no more nightmares that night.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so tempted to delete most of it but got convinced otherwise. Still feel like I should have done a better job at connecting scenes but... grah.
> 
> For better or worse, there you are. Baby Sakura and her little make-shift family :) Enjoy.

**Author's Note:**

> ... I really shouldn't start ANOTHER story. I've actually got quite enough to write on buuut... I couldn't help myself.
> 
> Another Sakura-in-warring-states-period story, because in my other story [Misplaced Reality](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16041425/chapters/37446191) I didn't go far enough back in time *shrug* I blame [Patty](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aubhergyn) for this brainchild, who co-miserated with me about Itama and Kawarama until I got even more feelings on the topic than I already had and needed to fix it.
> 
> Anyways... yep, Sakura is a baby. With her memories more or less intact and probably about to go insane due to a lack of mobility, but eh, she will survive. What can go wrong :D


End file.
